The present invention concerns a method and installation for loading passengers, particularly skiers, on a mobile suspended carrier of the ski-lift or chair-lift type.
The considerable development of tourism in the mountains and of winter sports has brought an increase in the number of mechanical lifts, especially of the ski-tow type. Among the various types of mechanical lifts, chair-lifts and ski-tows are the most common at present. Such mechanical lifts generally include a single cable, running at practically constant speed and carrying structures to allow traction or transportation of passengers, such structures being held on the cable by means of fixed or declutchable clamps. On ski-tows, the passenger is pulled by a perch (single place ski-tow) or a bow in the shape of a T with both branches upside-down (double place ski-tow). On chair-lifts, the passenger is carried by a structure dimensioned and built to provide a bench with seating for one or several passengers, the most frequently seen types having two and three places.
A problem common to all these types of mechanical lifts resides in the loading of passengers at the time of departure when the passenger, initially motionless must at the end of the starting phase, be brought to more or less the same speed as that of the cable, which is generally on the order of several meters per second.
Several methods have been proposed to facilitate loading of passengers on mechanical lifts. Thus, in ski-tows with automatic departure, the departure zone is in the form of an inclined plane having a downward slope on which the passenger accelerates, through gravitation, then seizes a pole which is fixed on the cable so that, if the skier and the cable have more or less the same speed, the departure takes place satisfactorily. For chair-lifts with a declutchable clamp, passengers sit on a bench which proceeds slowly, gradually accelerates under the effect of a suitable drive means and then is fixed on the cable in order to transport the passenger at the speed of the cable itself. Finally, in chair-lifts utilizing a fixed clamp, no special solution is envisaged at present so that the speed of the cable must be limited to avoid too important shocks at the instant of embarking.
Apparatus using these various methods presents several disadvantages. Thus, for ski-tows with automatic departure, snow conditions and the skier's capabilities may cause poor speed matching at the time of departure. It is therefore necessary that acceleration ramp be adequately covered with snow or ice. The chair-lift with a declutchable clamp is much more expensive than a chair-lift with a fixed clamp and requires careful maintenance. Chair-lifts with fixed clamps are slower and thus allow only a limited flow of passengers.
The object of the present invention is to obviate these various disadvantages by a method and installation for loading passengers allowing a substantial improvement in the comfort and safety of the loading and at the same time an increase in the speed and thus capacity of mechanical lifts of the fixed clamp type, with overall costs being considerably lower than those of a chair-lift of the declutchable type.